• by Wayne Friedman , November 18, 2005

Walt Disney Co. will be producing new "mini" episodes of the ABC hit show "Lost" for possible distribution on Verizon Communications' Vcast service.

Twenty new episodes--only several minutes in length--will be bought by the mobile phone provider's VCast service next year, according to programming experts.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment will produce the small episodes, and later package them as part of a second-season DVD release. The episodes will be called "Lost Video Diaries," with two new stranded characters introduced that are not currently featured on the prime-time version.

Neither ABC or series producer Touchstone Television will be involved in the production, although it will be supervised by executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.

20th Century Fox Television worked a similar agreement for its drama, "24," with Verizon.

Verizon's VCast sells video content available for $15 per month, and "Diaries" would likely be a part of that package. VCast also offers premium original content for 99 cents per episode. The phone carrier would have exclusive rights to the new mini-"Lost." Those new episodes might then move to an iPod window.

ABC recently announced a deal with Apple's iTunes Music Store to run repurposed episodes of "Lost."